President Donald Trump announced Monday he will attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after snubbing the annual gathering hosted by journalists for years.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he would join the audience of Washington dignitaries and Hollywood celebrities at the late April affair.
‘In honor of our Nation’s 250th Birthday, and the fact that these “Correspondents” now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T., according to many, it will be my Honor to accept their invitation, and work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!’ the President said.
The dinner was started in the 1920s under President Calvin Coolidge, with Trump the only president to skip it year after year.
It’s hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association, an organization that supports the White House press corps.
‘Because the Press was extraordinarily bad to me, FAKE NEWS ALL, right from the beginning of my First Term, I boycotted the event, and never went as Honoree,’ Trump said. ‘However, I look forward to being with everyone this year.’
‘Hopefully, it will be something very Special,’ Trump added. ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter!’
Before being sworn into office in 2017, Trump had attended the WHCD, or ‘nerd prom’ as it’s nicknamed, several times.
President Donald Trump, photographed earlier Monday in the East Room, announced Monday evening via Truth Social that he would attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner after snubbing it four times
President Barack Obama is pictured at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in which he mocked then businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump from onstage, a moment some in Trump’s inner circle say motivated the President to run for the White House in 2016
Most memorably, Trump played foil to President Barack Obama during the dinner in April 2011, which Obama attended while US Navy Seals were carrying out the Osama bin Laden raid.
Obama, who was the target of Trump’s ‘birther’ conspiracy theory at the time, which challenged the Democratic president’s legitimacy, let loose on the now President, mocking his flirtations with a White House bid.
He wondered aloud how Trump’s experience helming The Apprentice might set him up for presidential success.
‘For example, on a recent episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the men from Omaha Steaks,’ Obama began.
‘And there was lots of blame to go around, but you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership,’ the Democrat continued. ‘And so ultimately you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf, you fired Gary Busey.’
‘These are the kinds of decisions that keep me up at night. Well handled, sir, well handled,’ Obama joked.
Some Trump advisers later speculated that Obama’s taunts motivated him to run for president in 2016.
Trump returned to the WHCD in 2015, several months before he announced his first successful presidential bid.
Donald Trump is seen attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2015, several months before he declared his first successful run for the presidency. Since taking office, Trump has skipped the ‘nerd prom’ every year it’s been held
President Joe Biden puts on his trademark pair of aviator sunglasses as he speaks at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April 2023. Biden attended the WHCD every year it was held, though it was cancelled in 2021 during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Vanderpump Rules stars Ariana Maddix (left) and Lisa Vanderpump (right) pose on the carpet as they arrived at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2023, as guests of the Daily Mail amid ‘Scandoval,’ a cheating scandal that rocked the reality television world
Actress Scarlett Johansson waves as she’s seated in the audience of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2024, the year her husband, Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost, performed the comedy bit
Actress Lindsay Lohan is photographed attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April 2012. The dinner is held by the organization that supports the White House press corps but has become a big ticket for celebrity guests, especially during the Obama years
But once he entered office, Trump skipped the dinner every year it was held, often also barring other White House officials from attending.
It was cancelled in 2020 – and during President Joe Biden’s first year in office in 2021 – due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The dinner typically includes a roast from the President and, in turn, a comedic performance.
That got scrapped last year due to the outcry surrounding anti-Trump comedian Amber Ruffin’s selection, with the WHCD board unanimously voting to cancel her performance after it was initially announced.
This year, instead of a comedian, mentalist Oz Pearlman is slated to perform.
The dinner will take place on April 25 at the Washington Hilton.
